The installer automatically migrates the database from Microsoft SQL Server Express to the PostgreSQL database that is included in vCenter Server. For information about migrating from Microsoft SQL Server Express to Microsoft SQL Server before upgrading to vCenter Server 6.5, see the VMware knowledge base article at http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1028601 and the Microsoft documentation. To upgrade without migrating to the PostgreSQL database, see the VMware knowledge base article http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2109321.

Note:

If you are using any external Platform Services Controller instances, you must upgrade them to Platform Services Controller6.5 instances before upgrading your vCenter Server 6.0 instances to 6.5.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have made a backup of your vCenter Server configuration and database.

To verify that the VMware Directory Service is in a stable state and can stop, manually restart it. The VMware Directory service must stopped for the vCenter Server upgrade software to uninstall vCenter Single Sign-On during the upgrade process.

Procedure

Download the vCenter Server for Windows ISO file. Extract the ISO file locally, or mount the ISO file as a drive.

In the software installer, double-click the autorun.exe file to start the installer.

Select vCenter Server for Windows and click Install.

The installer runs checks in the background to discover your existing vCenter Single Sign-On settings and notify you of any problems that can affect your upgrade process.

The vCenter Server installer opens to the Welcome page.

Review the Welcome page and accept the license agreement.

Enter your credentials.

Enter your vCenter Server administrator credentials.

If vCenter Single Sign-On is present, enter the administrator@vsphere.local user credential and the vCenter Single Sign-On credential. The user must be administrator@your_domain_name.

Click Next.

The installer runs checks in the background to detect any issues that can cause the upgrade to fail. You might receive a warning if the old certificates do not meet current VMware security standards.

Configure the ports and click Next.

Verify that ports 80 and 443 are free and dedicated, so that vCenter Single Sign-On can use these ports.

The installer checks for the availability of the selected ports, and displays an error message if a selected port cannot be used.

Configure install, data, and export data directories and click Next.

The installer runs disk space and permission checks for the selected directories, and displays an error message if the selected directories do not meet the requirements.

Review the Summary page to verify that the settings are correct. Select the checkbox to verify that you have made a backup of the vCenter Server machine and the vCenter Server database and click Upgrade.

The installer starts the upgrade process and displays a progress indicator.